Germany v England Friendly

I switched over after Germany went 2 up

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You might be right, Gay, but that really was a good performance.

Haven’t enjoyed watching a friendly as much in a long time.

Can’t help thinking that we were witnessing the influence of Klop and Pochettino as much as Hodgson.

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Was going to say the same thing this morning - the Poch/Klopp effect on the pressing in the first half was clear - with so many of the side having played this style regularly for club… My concern would be defense. England played very well, was a great game, but the let’s not forget the wrongly disallowed goal in the first half, and that the Grermans had 2 realtively new central defenders all second half. Yes, I think we deserved the win, but need to keep it all in perspective/context.

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True. Don’t forget that Germany are the World Champions though . Not many sides will be better going forward than them.

I had about thirty years of thinking we would win every Euros or World Cup we went to, then I wised up.

Calm down everyone.

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Can we all remember to carry a crowbar around in case we see Wayne Rooney?

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Originally posted by @saintbletch

Can’t help thinking that we were witnessing the influence of Klop and Pochettino as much as Hodgson.

11 out of last 18 debutants have played under Pochettino apparently.

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To be fair to MP, he has answered the question “Who the fuck is Pochettino?” rather comprehensively.

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Indeed he has.

Fair play to Les Reed and his team for being the only people who spotted the potential in MP.

Ditto for a few players.

_Where Saints lead, Spurs, Liverpool, Arsenal and Man United follow. _

And when Liverpool lead, don’t worry, it’ll all come right in the end.

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Just watching the full 90 (so easy to to when you know the result, eh?) and am impressed with this England team. Think the comments about the influence of Pochettino and Klopp is well made, but Vardy will also chase anything down. His goal was sublime.

I really hope that this creates pressure for the Kane and Vardy age, because if Rooney starts ahead of them, we really are grounding our bombers. Both offer so much more than he can at the minute. Hodgson must know this. If he’s got the balls to pick the players on form, we have a real chance in this tournament. If he doesn’t his reign will go down as a bigger disaster than the fiasco in the World Cup.

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Sunday times is knocking one out at the prospect of Rooney Wiltshire and shaw in that team. We will never learn.

sack off Rooney - he is done

even if Wiltshire is fit, after one game he won’t be and that will be one less player in the squad

I hate England managers

Is it safe to start caring again yet?

No, don’t be fooled, it’s another false dawn.

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Indeed. Hodgson needs to heed three words. “Don’t pick Rooney”

He’s not heeding them.

“Wayne, I repeat, is our captain,” Hodgson said. “He has captained the team extremely well these past two years, taken us through a qualification campaign, where we had complete success, 10 wins out of 10, so it doesn’t please me too much when it is suggested the moment he gets injured and doesn’t play he deserves to be jettisoned in some way."

No Roy, it’s because he is shit at tournaments, innit?

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This is when the Nation needs to stand tall and say " Rooney is fucking past it. ditch him"

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What gets me as a “football person” how the hell can’t Hodson see that???

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Is Roy really going to gamble his own job by selecting Rooney to start?

The cheeky scouser has been a solid servant to England but has not delivered on the really big occasions and doesn’t have the status of a world class player who can turn a tight game.

You have two obvious in-form players, then you have a half-fit Rooney - It just looks like repeating the mistakes of the past.

Then again what do I know?

Hodgson is the expert and it’s he that will look unemployable if he goes that route and it fails.

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Reminds me of 1986 and 1990 - both times the team improved after Brian Robson got injured (and in 1986 Ray Wilkins got sent off)

In tournament football managers need to be brave enough to play the people in form, not the established stars. To his credit Hoodle did that in 1998 with Michael Owen

We’ve got Kane doing Cruyff turns and putting a lovely goal past the Germans. Vardy seems to need goals like a junkie needs the next fix. They’re both playing in successful teams and used to winning and scoring.

Rooney bimbles about the country with Colleen, Lambert and Butler, does fuck all for a couple of years, hits the teeniest bit of form and generates thousands of man hours of content just because he isn’t completely fucking shit for a spell. We should have known that his priorities were elsewhere when he started sporting the rug on his head.

Everyone know’s you’re bald, Wayne. Everyone know’s you’re crapola at tournies, and once again, not likely to be fully fit for it. The only people that don’t seem to be aware are certain holdout journalists and the England Football Manager.

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Actually a better example is 1966. Ramsey had Jimmy Greaves - probably the best ever English goalscorer - fit but stuck with Geoff Hurst who was had hit form in that tournament. It sort of paid off

No way with Hodgson make that kind of decision